Carl Sandburg College and St. Ambrose University announced a new Dual Admission Agreement Program (DUAPP) with several benefits, including a new scholarship, during a news conference Monday at Sandburg’s Main Campus in Galesburg.

Students who transfer from Sandburg and are enrolled in the DUAPP will receive an additional $1,000 annual scholarship beyond other SAU academic and institutional scholarships and aid. They also lock in general education graduation requirements; meet regularly with a St. Ambrose advisor while still enrolled at Sandburg; and can take advantage of the St. Ambrose Career Development Center, library, athletics facilities, free admission to fine arts events and home games and co-curricular opportunities within their major.

“This is a great opportunity for our students. It allows our students, the moment they start here, to be able to have that final goal of a four-year degree,” Carl Sandburg College President Dr. Lori Sundberg said. “It helps with retention and completion for us, and it provides for St. Ambrose a student who is ready to be there as a junior.”

This agreement adds another dimension to Sandburg’s emphasis on student retention and degree completion and builds upon an existing strength and area of strategic focus at St. Ambrose, which has had more than 2,500 community college students transfer there over the past 10 years. Top areas of study for transfer students include nursing, teacher education, business, exercise science, accounting, engineering and health science.

“What it’s intended to do is ensure a smooth transition for students but also to start building community with those students,” said John Cooper, vice president of enrollment management at St. Ambrose. “It’s so important that students feel part of an institution, and it’s great that that community and family-type feeling starts even before they hit the campus.”

For more information about the agreement, contact Rick Eddy, director of admissions and records at Sandburg, at 309.341.5234 or reddy@sandburg.edu, or Maureen Baldwin, dean of student academic services at St. Ambrose, at 563.333.6059 or baldwinmaureenm@sau.edu.

Carl Sandburg College serves more than 3,400 students throughout three locations in west-central Illinois, offers seven university transfer programs, 16 associate in applied science programs, 18 certificate programs, six advanced certificate programs and was selected as the top community college its size in the country for digital technology. For more information about Carl Sandburg College, visit www.sandburg.edu.